Ad van Meurs began his career as The Watchman in 1988 performing at the Rockfest in the still-behind-the-curtain Prague. As a singer-songwriter with a rhythm-box, labelled as 'hard-folk', he took around the world, from The New Music Seminar in New York, an East coast tour and a Texas tour up to be the opening solo act for Urban Dance Squad's European tour in 1991.
During this period his debut-album "The Watchman" released world-wide by Rykodisk was praised as "ballsy folk" by Rolling Stone as well as earning Billboard's "Critic's Choice" of 1991.

After that, Ad van Meurs formed the band, released in Holland and Belgium his second album "Narcisse". The Watchman Band made its debut on the Roskilde festival in Denmark 1992.

Audiences are never disappointed by the combination of serious songwriting, ritual groove and a healthy sense of humor, not to mention the sweet harmonies coming from the sound board where Miss Ankie Keultjes sings back up while mixing live performances.

Live in the Vondel Park Amsterdam 1995 The band got signed up again in USA with their third album "Peaceful Artillery", produced by early Memphis' Sun-studio veteran and great guy, cowboy Jack Clement from Nashville.
Under Steve Popovich's label Cleveland International they played in 1995 in Ottawa and Toronto.

1996: The band spent their time playing mostly in Germany (their work being released by Westpark in Germany), and recording their album "Broken Lock & Rhyme" where The Watchman takes its characteristic and individual style closer to the sublime.

1997 is the year of the making of ‘Flight over Life’. According to the press and listeners an acoustic jewel.

1998: The band appears on the ‘Festival d’ete’ in Quebec City and tours through Canada.
In 1998 Ad v.Meurs and Ankie Keultjes play on the SXSW-seminar in Austin, Texas; the result of this is a new tour in October 1998 in the Anderson Fair in Houston.

The new album "Carnival of Circumstance" is released in August 2002. Ad van Meurs (The Watchman) describes himself as a man marooned on an island in the mid Atlantic, somewhere between Ostend and Graceland. "Carnival of Circumstance" is a collection of reflections from that island.